As some of you may know, Marissa has been struggling with some health issues since her senior year in high school. She has undergone several tests and procedures and she has had a lot of bloodwork done over these last three years but everything has always come back "normal". Her issues have never gone away, but she has found ways to just live with them the best that she can. It hasn't been easy, especially with the long grueling hours of swimming and traveling, but God has definitely sustained her. Things did get to the point this most recent spring semester where we knew that we needed to begin the summer by starting over and possibly pursuing a new doctor and possibly try some other options over the summer in the hopes of improving things before she heads back to school. I am happy to report that the Lord so graciously provided for us in the way of a brand new young female doctor coming into our town. She was taking new patients so Marissa had her initial appointment with her as soon as she got home from school on the 6th of May and she immediately felt comfortable with her. The doctor asked if we wanted to schedule an exploratory laparotomy to get some more information and that was scheduled for Monday, May 18th. Whether the results gave us any answers or not, it was important to do it as soon as we could so that Marissa could have time to heal and to recover before her swimming work-outs start back up again.
+++
I had to have Marissa at the hospital at 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning. They got us settled back in the surgery wing and then they began the process to get her ready for the surgery that would take place at 9:30. Everyone was so nice to her as they knew that this would be her first surgery...
...and the nurses in the surgery unit put together a gift bag for her and gave her flowers. There were also two separate notes inside the bag that had been signed by the nurses and one of them had a bible verse on it. They said that they were praying for her. That was a very kind gesture and it meant a lot to me as her Mom that they were taking such good care to make her feel safe and comfortable.
The nurses would come and go as they completed all of the paperwork and added her IV's and other monitors. The doctor came in around 9:15 to give us a recap of what she planned to do during the surgery and to answer any last minute questions that Marissa had... no matter how large or small. And then the nurses came back at 9:30 to take her to the OR.
Here is her smiling send-off...
I had brought a book with me so I enjoyed about an hour of quiet reading. I was just wondering how much longer it would be when I heard the nurses reassuring their patient that "your mama is in the room waiting for you" and then they came around the corner and wheeled Marissa into the room. Marissa immediately started smiling and telling me how much she missed me. (I know it was the anesthesia talking, but she was very emotional and very very happy to see me again after "such a really long time"). I won't embarrass her by saying anything else about what she said or how she acted while she was under the anesthesia, but we covered a lot of topics while I waited for her to completely wake up enough to get dressed and to get ready to go home. She did manage to make us all laugh (and cry) a couple of times while we talked. The nurses just laughed and laughed and told me what a beautiful young lady that she was and how kind she was even when she didn't really know what she was saying.
+++
Due to the incisions in her abdomen, she would spend the rest of Monday and most of Tuesday recovering on the couch. She isn't suppose to lift anything heavier than 10 pounds or do anything too strenuous for at least one full week, possibly two. I thought that she would be anxious to get back into the pool, but it has hurt badly enough these first couple of days, that staying away from the pool has been easier than expected.
+++
I won't go into specifics in this post because it's Marissa's story to share (if she wants), but the surgery was successful and the doctor found a couple of things that she thinks may be causing at least some of Marissa's issues for the last three years. The doctor was a little discouraged that previous doctors didn't see what she saw and she wondered how it was overlooked, but we aren't dwelling on that now. We are just grateful for her and that God brought her into our life when the time was right.
And now we pray for the Lord's healing hand to continue to heal Marissa and to bring her back to her full physical health.
No comments:
Post a Comment